Control system for automatic phonographs



April 28, 1942. E. G. HENRY 2,281,435

CONTROL: SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATIC P HONOGRAPHS Filed March 5, 1941 2Sheets-Sheet 1 J2 fy Ap 8,19 42. m. HEN' w y 2,281,435

CONTROL SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATIC PHONOGRAPHS Fil ed March 5, 1941 2Sheets-She et '2 Patented Apr. 28, 1942 STTES TENT OFFICE CONTROL SYSTEMFOR AUTOMATIC PHONOGRAPHS Earle G. Henry, Chicago, 111., assignor toBuckley Music System, Inc., a corporation of Illinois 9 Claims.

A popular form of apparatus for providing entertainment is the automaticphonograph which automatically plays any desired number of recordswithin the capacity of its magazine or other holder for a group ofrecords. When employed in public places, they are often provided withcoin boxes into which nickels, dimes and quarters may be deposited; thenumber of records that can be played without inserting additional coinsbeing determined by the value of the coin or coins that have alreadybeen received, whereas the actual records that will be played aredetermined by manually-operable elements such as push buttons or keysmore or less like the white keys of a piano keyboard. This type ofcontrol system makes it necessary for a patron to walk over to thephonograph in order to cause it to play; and, as a result, the practicehas arisen of providing remote control through boxes adapted to be setupon counters or tables or to be attached to the walls or other supportsaround a room. The usual wall boxes have only one coin slot, making itnecessary to deposit a nickel at a time, although as many records,within the capacity of the machine, can be played as there are coinsdeposited.

It is desirable that, in the case of the particular type of phonographto which I have just referred, the playing of records may be controlledboth from a remote point or points and also by depositing coins in thecoin receptacle mounted on the machine and manipulating the keys orother manually-operable devices.

The object of the present invention is to produce a simple and novelcontrol system which will permit the playing of records to be controlledlocally or at one or more remote points without interference between thetwo types of controls and in a manner to cause each record to be playedin its proper turn or order, regardless of whether the selection be madelocally or at a remote point.

In carrying out my invention, I provide electro-magnetic stop devicesfor the selector shaft present in the machine and employ the keys orother manually-operable elements to energize these stop devices. Thesesame stop devices may then also be controlled from wall boxes at remotepoints. The mechanism in the local coin box fornickels, dimes andquarters is utilized to limit the number of records initiated bymanipulation of the local keys according to the amount of money that hasbeen deposited. Therefore, if all of the local keys should be depressed,and only enough money be deposited to pay for the playing of, say, fiverecords, only five consecutive records would be played. If any of thesefive records had been selected from a remote point, they would be playedonly once; but, if other selections were made from remote points, theywould also be played in their proper turn, as determined by theselecting shaft.

In order that any record, or any number of records, distributedthroughout the entire series,

may be played under local control, I provide an automatic circuitclosing device in each of the electro-magnetic circuits, whereby gaps inall of these circuits are closed momentarily, one after the other, untilall of the records, selected by local control, have been played.

The various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterizedwill hereinafter be pointed out with particularity in the claims; but,for a full understanding of my invention and of its objects andadvantages, reference may be had to the following detailed descriptiontaken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic or schematic view illustrating my improvedcontrol system and so much of the phonograph apparatus as is necessaryfor an understanding of the system; Fig. 2! is an end view of therecord-selecting shaft, forming part of the phonograph, showing a ringof stop pins distributed around the same with their axes parallel to theaxes of the shaft; Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2; and Fig. 4is a more or less diagrammatic view showing a part of the remote controlsystem and a portion of the electro-magnetic stop devices.

The remote control system which I employ may be, and is illustrated asbeing, the system disclosed in my prior patent application, Serial No.292,079, filed August 26, 1939. A part of this system, disconnected fromthe local control system, is illustrated in Fig. 4, in which I, lrepresent the coils of as many solenoids as there are records to beplayed, and 2 are the solenoid cores adapted to be moved in onedirection upon energizing the coils and requiring the application of anexternal force to move them. in the other direction. Thus, in Fig. 4,the first and the third cores have been shifted to one limit of theirmovement through the energization of the corresponding coils. Assumingthat the axes of all of these solenoids lie on the surface of a cylinderwith their axes parallel to the axis of the cylinder; that the selectingshaft of the phonograph is coaxial with the cylinder and is providedwith a radial arm 3 located near one end of the group of solenoids: whenthe cores are retracted, they lie out of the path of this arm as theselecting shaft rotates: whereas, when the solenoid cores are shifted,upon the energization of the corresponding coils, as are the first andthe third core in Fig. 4, the cores project into the path of the arm 3and thus serve as stop pins.

Referring now to Fig. l of the drawings, it will be seen that the coilsI of twelve solenoids are shown, thereby permitting twelve differentrecords to be selected. The number of these coils may, of course, beincreased or decreased, depending upon the number of records that may becontained at one time in the phonograph. 4, 4 represent themanually-operable selective ele ments of the phonograph, thesecorresponding in number to the number of selections that can be made.Since my system is particularly adapted for use in connection withautomatic phonographs having manually-operable controlling elements ofthe piano key type, the elements 4 are shown as being of that type. Uponthe depression of a key, it closes a switch 5, there being such a switchfor each key. These switches control the energizing circuits for thesolenoid coils, but do not constitute the only controls for thosecircuits. One terminal of each of these switches is connected to oneterminal of the corresponding solenoid through a line which contains agap. Thus, in the arrangement shown, it will be seen that there is awire 6 leading from one terminal of the uppermost switch 5 to astationary contact piece I on a stationary disk 8 or other flat support;there being also a wire leading from one terminal of the upper solenoidI to a stationary contact I located near the contact 'I on the member 8.Each switch is connected to one terminal of the corresponding solenoidcoil in this same way. All of these contacts I are shown as beingarranged in a circle smaller than and concentric with a circle in whichthe contacts I0 lie. Each contact I and the corresponding contact I0 liein the same radius.

A rotatable shaft I I passes through the support 8 at the center of thetwo circles of contacts and at right angles to the plane in which thesecontacts lie. Fixed to this shaft is a radial contact finger I2 which,as the shaft revolves, sweeps over one pair of contacts, 'I and I0,after another. Therefore, assuming the upper switch in Fig. 1 to beclosed and the shaft II to be rotating, the line between that switch andthe uppermost of the solenoid coils I will be completed as soon as thecontact finger I2 sweeps over and forms a bridge between the twocontacts I and II] which are so marked in the drawings.

Current for energizing the solenoid coils is taken from one terminal ofthe secondary of a transformer l4 through a wire I5, a switch I6 andwire II that is common to all of the switches 5. One terminal of each ofthe solenoid coils I is connected to a line I8 that is connected to thesecond terminal of the transformer secondary. In the arrangement shown,the line I8 includes the coil of an electromagnet I9 which, whenenergized, closes a switch 2i) that may be in the circuit of the motor(not shown), that drives the phonograph mechanism or in any other usualor suitable circuit which must be closed to cause the phonograph tooperate. Normally the switch is held open by a spring 2 I. However, aslong as selections remain to be played, the phonograph mechanism willremain in operation.

The switch It is the so-called magazine switch present in the usualcoin-receiving unit 22; this switch being closed whenever a coin isdeposited and being again opened after as many records have been playedas have been paid for. An example of such a coin-receiving unit isdisclosed in Patent No. 2,236,198 to Osborne, dated March 25, 1941. Thecommonly used means for controlling this switch includes a ratchet wheel24 which is turned one step for each selection covered by the moneydeposited in the box. In accordance with my invention, I cause thisratchet wheel to turn back again, one step at a time, for each of thesolenoid coils I that is energized in the manner heretofore explained.In other words, an actuating pawl 23 for the ratchet wheel is mounted onthe lower end of the core 26 of a solenoid which is normally held up bya spring 21. When the coil 28 of this solenoid is energized, it pullsthe core down, turning the ratchet wheel through a step equal to thelength of one of the ratchet teeth. The coil 28 receives current throughone of the wires 6, the corresponding contact I, the contact finger I2,when that finger engages the latter contact, through a wire 29 andthence through a wire 3! which is connected to the same terminal of thetransformer as is the wire I8. Thus, whenever one of the solenoid coilsI is energized, upon the depression of any one of the keys 4, thesolenoid coil 28 is connected in parallel therewith and is alsoenergized. Also, as soon as the rotating contact finger I2 leaves astationary contact I, the circuit of the ratchet-operating solenoid isbroken.

The shaft II is driven by an electric motor 3|. This motor is connectedacross the terminals of the transformer secondary by wires 32 and 34,the first of which is connected to the wire I! at a point between theswitch I6 and the switches 5, while the other is shown as beingconnected to the wire I8 at a point between the solenoid I9 and thetransformer. Consequently, whenever the switch It is closed, the motor3I is running, and the contact finger I2 is sweeping over the pairs ofstationary contacts I and I0. When the switch 56 opens, the motor stops.I provide means for stopping the motor in such a position that thecontact finger I2 lies between consecutive pairs of contacts I and I0,so that the circuits controlled by the switches 5 must remain dead untilthe motor again starts. This can conveniently be accomplished by fixingon the shaft II a disk 35 provided with twelve holes 36 evenlydistributed in a circle about the center of the disk, and employing apin adapted to enter any one of these holes. In the arrangement shown,the pin is the core 31 of a solenoid 38 mounted beside the disk 35 withits axis parallel to the shaft II and at the same radial distance fromthe axis of the shaft as the holes 36. A spring 33 tends constantly toforce the plunger against the disk and to carry it into each of saidholes when that hole registers with the pin. Upon energizing thesolenoid coil, the pin is retracted so as to leave the shaft free toturn. It will be seen that the coil of the solenoid is connected to themotor circuit by Wires 39 and fill, so as to be in parallelismtherewith. Consequently, whenever the motor circuit is energized, thestop pin is withdrawn and, as soon as the motor circuit is interrupted,the stop pin is pressed against the side of the disk 36. If the stop pinhappens to be directly opposite one of the holes in the disk when thecircuit is interrupted, the motor will stop abruptly. On the other hand,if the stop pin lies between two of holes in the disk, the

momentum of the motor is suflicient to carry the disk around until thepin drops into the trailing hole.

. It will be seen in Fig. 1 that the rotatable contact finger l2 liesabout midway between two pairs of stationary contacts, while the stoppin 31 is engaged in one of the holes 36. In other words, the motoralways stops in such a position that there can be no energization of thesolenoid coils l upon the closing of one or more of the switches 5,until the motor again starts.

Reference has heretofore been made to the record-selecting shaft formingpart of the phonograph. An arrangement of this type is shown in theWilcox Patent No. 2,002,236 for Automatic phonograph, 'dated May 21,1935, in which the shaft ll is provided with an arm 31 whose movement isarrested in various positions by selective pins 32. This shaft, to whichis fixed the radial selector arm 3, is indicated at M in Figs. 2 and 3.It will be seen that the stop pins 2 are distrib uted at equal radialdistances from and evenly spaced about the shaft and that the arm 3 islonger than these radial distances so that, when; ever one of thesolenoid coils l is energized and pushes its stop-forming core 2 intoits working position, as in Fig. 3, this core constitutes a stop toarrest the rotation of the shaft when the arm 3 strikes the core.

After a record has been played, the corresponding stop pin or core 2must be returned to its idle position, out of the path of the arm 3.This can conveniently be done by fixing to the shaft ii, near the arm 3,a disk or other suitable supporting member upon which is secured thecoil 34 of a solenoid, the core 55 of which is aligned with each stoppin 2 whenever the arm 3 is engaged with the latter. The member 55extends through a hole in the part 42 so that when it is pushed in, itstrikes the end of that stop pin 2 with which the arm 3 happens to beengaged, and pushes it back out of the path of this arm. Normally, thecore 15 is held retracted, as indicated in Fig. 3, by means of a spring46. Therefore, the core 45 remains retracted except during the time thatthe solenoid is energized.

The usual phonograph; machine is so constructed that whenever theselecting shaft stops, in any one of its twelve working positions, a newplaying cycle is started and thereafter automatically continues tocompletion. Therefore, each stop pin may be pushed into an idle positionat any time during the progress of such a cycle. In the arrangementshown in Fig. 1, the coil of the solenoid M is connected directly acrossthe terminals of the transformer secondary, and its energization iscontrolled by a switch 41. The switch 41 is adapted to openautomatically and to be closed by means of a cam 48 or other part of thephonograph that makes one revolution, for example, during each playingcycle. Therefore, once during each playing cycle, the cam 48 closes theswitch l! so as to cause the solenoid 44 to be energized and the stoppin with which it happens to be registering, to be kicked back into itsidle position,

In actual practice the shaft H and, therefore, the arm l2, completes arevolution in less than ten seconds, thus causing all of the controllingcoils l corresponding to records that have been selected to be energizedand the stop pins set within that short period of time after theinsertion of coins and the pressing down of keys. Therefore, the keysthat are depressed in making a selection of records need not remain downmore than a few seconds after the phonographbegins playing. Or, in otherwords, a patron is not required to wait until the phonograph stopsplaying, before raising the keys that were previously depressed, andthen depressing the keys corresponding toselections desired by him, asis true with the type of phonograph described before my new controlsystem is applied; but a patron may, at-any time during the playing of arecord or records, raise all of the keys, deposit the necessary coins,and make his desired selections, with the assurance that theseselections will then be played in their regular order, as heretoforeexplained.

Records may be selected from remote points without interferring with theproper playing of the records selected at the local keyboard. Thus, eachof the wires 9 may be connected to a suitable stationary contact 49 on awall-dialing device 50 by means of a wire 5!; there being twelve ofthese stationary contacts, distributed in a circle, as in my aforesaidapplication. A manually-operable, rotatable part 52 may be brought intoengagement with any one of the stationary contacts Q9. The part 52 isconnected through a wire 54, a coin slot switch 55, and a wire 56 to theopposite terminal of the transformer secondary from that to which thewire 9, solenoid.

coil I, and wire i8 lead. The result is that by setting the dial deviceto a position corresponding to a given record, and dropping a coin intothe coin slot 51, the corresponding solenoid coil I is energized. Otherselections can be perfected by shifting the movable element of thedialing device to other stationary contacts and, in each instance,depositing a coin.

In order that the solenoid 19 may remain energized, notwithstanding thatall of the solenoid coils I may be dead after having brought theirstop-pin core members into stop positions, it is necessary to provide acircuit for the solenoid which shall be independent of the circuits forthe coils l. The arrangement shown in my aforesaid patent application iswell suited for this purpose. As shown in Fig. 4, each solenoid core 2has atone end an extension 58 of insulating material a portion of whichis surrounded by a metallic sleeve 59. It is only when a solenoid coreis retracted as is the second core from the left in Fig. 4 that thecircuit for the corresponding solenoid coil is connected to thetransformer.. This is because the metal sleeve 59 engages with a pair ofstationary contacts 60 and 6 I; the contact 69 being connected to oneterminal of the solenoid coil; and the contact 6! being inelectrically-conductive engagement with a metal bar or rail 62 which, inturn, is connected to one terminal of the transformer secondary by awire 64. As soon as one of the solenoid coils I becomes energized andmoves its core into stop position, as in the case of the lefthandsolenoid in Fig. 4, the circuit for that coil is broken at the switchEll, but a circuit isestablished for energizing the coil l9, through thewire 64, the rail 62, the contact piece 5|, the metal sleeve 59, acontact piece 65 secured to a metal rail 65, and wire 61. In otherwords, whenever a selectvie solenoid has been energized and hascompleted its work of placing a stop into its working or stoppingposition, it brings about an interruption of its own circuit andestablishes a new circuit which causes the closing of the switch 20which, while open, prevents the operation of the phonograph. It will beseen that whenever a number of the solenoid coils l have been energized,the coil l9 remains energized and the switch 20 remains closed until allof the corresponding records have been played, so that there is noopening or closing of the switch 20 except at the beginning of theplaying of the group of records, and after all of the records have beenplayed.

It will thus be seen that I have produced a simple and novel system forutilizing the manually-operable selective elements, such as devices ofthe piano key type to control selective playing of records, while makingit possible to achieve similar control from one or more remote points,without the addition of anything more than the desired number of wallboxes and the equivalent of a single cable leading from the phonographto the wall box or boxes. In this way the coin box with its mechanismadaptedjto be controlled by nickels, dimes and quarters, that hasheretofore been commonly used in connection with local manual control,can be utilized in the same manner as previously, while the patrons mayavail themselves of the ordinary nickel in the slot selective deviceswithin easy reach. It will also be seen that there is no conflictbetween the two methods of control which I employ, since every recordthat is selected, either locally or at a remote point or points, isplayed in its regular order and cannot be cancelled by another patron;nor can the patrons at one point or another bar others from having theirselections played promptly, because all selections are registered in theorder determined by the rotating selecting shait, so that each selectionis played as that shaft reaches the angular position correspondingthereto and not according to the order in which the patrons initiatedthe selections.

While I have illustrated and described with particularity only a singlepreferred form of my invention, I do not desire to be limited to theexact structural details thus illustrated and described; but intend tocover all forms and arrangements which come within the definitions of myinvention constituting the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A control system for an automatic machine adapted selectively to playa series of records having a movable selective element and acoinreceiving controller, which control system comprises: a series ofelectro-magnets cooperating with said selective element to arrest it invarious positions according to the selections to be made, a separate,normally-open energizing circuit for each electro-magnet including amanually-operable switch, and means controlled by said controlleroperating successively to close momenta'rily all of said circuits inwhich the said switches happen to be closed.

2. A control system for an automatic machine adapted selectively to playa series of records having a movable selective element and acoinreceiving controller, which control system comprises: a series ofelectro-magnets cooperating with said selective element to arrest it invarious positions according to the selections to be made, a separate,normally-open energizing circuit for each electro-magnet including amanually-operable switch, a movable device adapted successively to closemomentarily all of said circuits in which the aforesaid switches happento be closed, a motor for driving said device, a coin-controlled motorswitch, and means to cause said motor switch to open whenever a numberof electromagnets corresponding to the value of the coins deposited,have been energized.

3. A control system for an automatic machine adapted selectively to playa series of records having a movable selective element and acoinreceiving controller, which control system comprises: a series ofelectro-magnets cooperating with said selective element to arrest it invarious positions according to the selections to be made, a separateenergizing circuit for each electromagnet containing a manually-operableswitch and a normally open gap, a movable member adapted successively tocause momentary closing of said gaps, a motor for driving said member,and means to start the motor, and thereafter to stop the same after ithas made a number of revolutions bearing a definite ratio to the valueof the coins deposited in said controller.

l. A control system for an automatic machine adapted selectively to playa series of records having a rotatable selective element, whichcomprises: a series of solenoids distributed angularly about the axis ofrotation of said selective element with their core members movable intoand out of the path of said selective element, a separate, normally-openenergizing circuit for each solenoid including a manually-operableswitch, coin-controlled means operable successively to close momentarilyall of said circuits whose manually-operable switches are closed andthus move the cores of the corresponding solenoids into the path of saidselective element, and means controlled by a moving part of said machineto move each core member out of the path of said selective elementduring the cycle of operations involved in playing the recordcorresponding to that core member.

5. A control system for an automatic machine adapted selectively to playa series of records having a movable selective element and acoin-receiving controller, which control system comprises: a series ofelectro-magnets cooperating with said element to arrest it in variouspositions in making selections, each electro-magnet having a separateenergizing circuit containing a gap, a motor, a member driven by themotor to close said gaps momentarily, one after the other, and means toenergize the motor and then to deenergize it after energization of anumber of electro-magnets corresponding to the value of a coin or coinsthat have been deposited in said coin-receiving controller.

6. A control system for an automatic machine adapted selectively to playa series of records having a movable selective element and acoinreceiving controller, which control system comprises: a series ofelectro-magnets cooperating with said element to arrest it in variouspositions in making selections, each electro-magnet having a separateenergizing circuit containing a gap, a motor, a member driven by themotor to close said gaps momentarily, one after the other, means toenergize the motor and then to deenergize it after energization of anumber of electro-magnets corresponding to the value of a coin or coinsthat have been deposited in said coin-receiving controller, and means tostop the motor, upon degenergization, at a time when all of said gapsare open.

7. A control system for an automatic machine adapted selectively to playa series of records having a movable selective element and acoinreceivin'g controller, which control system comprises: a series ofelectro'magnets cooperating with said element to arrest it in variouspositions in making selections, each electro-magnet having a separateenergizing circuit containing a gap and a manually-operable switch, amotor, a member driven by the motor to close said gaps momentarily, oneafter the other, and means to energize the motor and then to d-eenergizeit after energizaticn of a number of electro-magnets corresponding tothe value of a coin or coins that have been deposited in saidcoin-receiving controller.

8. A control system for an automatic machine adapted selectively to playa series of records having a movable selective element and acoinreceiving controller, which control system comprises: a series ofelectro-magnets cooperating with said element to arrest it in variouspositions in making selections, each electro-magnet having a separateenergizing circuit containing a gap and a manually-operable switch, amotor, a member driven by the motor to close said gaps momentarily, oneafter the other, means to energize the motor and then to deenergize itafter energization of a number of electro-magnets corresponding to thevalue of a coin or coins that have been deposited in said coin-receivingcontroller, and means to stop the motor, upon deenergization, at a timewhen all of said gaps are open.

9. A control system for an automatic machine adapted selectively to playa series of records having a movable selective element and acoin-receiving controller, which control system comprises: a series ofelectro-magnets cooperating with said element to arrest it in variouspositions in making selections, each electro-magnet having a separateenergizing c' cuit containing a gap and a manually-operable switch, amotor, a member driven by the motor to close said gaps momentarily, oneafter the other, means to energize the motor and then to ldeenergize itafter energization of a number of electro-magnets corresponding to thevalue of a coin or coins that have been deposited in said coin-receivingcontroller, and means always to stop the motor, upon being deenergized,in such a position that said member comes to rest between consecutivegaps.

EARLE G. HENRY.

